Understanding Train Tickets in German
Below is a translation of your ticket as well as more information about your train tickets. Because these tickets are issued by the rail operator, they are only issued in German. We've created a guide in English to help you understand your tickets and key terms.
Please note: Europe uses the date format of DD/MM/YYYY
Glossary of Useful Terms to Help you Translate Your Ticket
- Bettplätze: Berth number (when travelling overnight)
- Datum: date
- Erwachsener: adult ('Erw' may be used as an abbreviation of Erwachsener)
- Fahrkarte: ticket
- Gleis: platform
- Gültig ab: valid from
- Gütigkeit: validity
- Halt: stop
- Kind/kinder: child/children
- Platz: space (refers to your seat number)
- Reservierung: reservation/ booking
- Sitzplätze: seat numbers
- Wagen: coach ('Wg' may be used as an abbreviation of Wagen)
- Zeit: time
Why is only one name listed? Why do I only have one ticket?
On most tickets, only the lead passenger’s name is shown on these train tickets. All other traveller names are in the QR code that the ticket inspector will scan. Erwachsener means adult in German. On some tickets, this is abbreviated as "Erw". So "2 Erwachsener", or "Erw 2", means the ticket is valid for 2 adults as in this example:
Do I have enough tickets for my journey(s)?
In many cases, you may only have one ticket that may cover more than one train journey for several passengers. In this example, the ticket covers travel for two adults (2 Erwachsene) for travel from Salzburg to Brussels, which is made up of two separate journeys. The ticket is therefore required for both journeys. Information such as train times and seat numbers for these journeys appear as:
Why do I have 2 papers for the same journey?
Some train legs require hard copy tickets and may have separate vouchers for the fare and the seat reservation. The fare ticket is designated by “Fahrkarte”, which means ticket. The seat reservation is designated by “Reservierung”, which means reservation. You will need to provide both to the ticket inspector.
- You may also have one “Fahrkarte” voucher for a through journey, with additional “Reservierung” vouchers for journeys within. In the example below, there is a ticket (Fahrkarte) for Basel to Munich and separate seat reservations for each of the two individual journeys. It is really important that you keep each ticket with you until you complete your travel, as it may be valid for more than one journey.
- If you only have one paper for a journey, and it mentions both “Fahrkarte” and “Sitzplätze” or “Platz”, which means seat numbers, then you have everything you need on one page.
